An 18-year-old girl who was looking forward to graduating from high school has passed away only days after she complained of congestion and headaches.
Sarah Simental from Illinois died only one week after being diagnosed with coronavirus.
Her grieving parents, Donald and Deborah Simental, said she was a healthy teen without underlying medical conditions.
Speaking to WLS-TV, Deborah said: “She went into cardiac arrest, she had a brain bleed, it was deteriorating her kidneys, it just ate her through.
“No parent should ever have to watch their child go through that. Nobody.”
The mother-of-two said it all started only a few days before Christmas when the teen complained of mild cold-like symptoms. However, her condition quickly declined and she tested positive for coronavirus on December 19.
Sarah was rushed to Silver Cross Hospital as her condition continued to deteriorate before she was airlifted to the University of Chicago Medical Center.
“I know she fought because one of the last times I was able to talk to her on the phone, they were taking her from the regular room to ICU and she said ‘I am going to be OK, mom,’ and that was the last thing,” Deborah expressed.
But despite doctors’ efforts to save the teen, she died on December 26, only less than a week after her Covid-19 diagnosis.
According to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, Sarah died of acute hypoxic respiratory failure because of coronavirus infection.
The heartbroken family now wants to share their daughter’s story to remind others that coronavirus doesn’t only affect the elderly or people with underlying conditions.
“Sarah is an example that it can happen to the youngest and healthiest people,” Deborah expressed.
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